Screening charities

www.charitynavigator.org

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How can you tell a good charity from a bad one? How do you know that your donations will actually help the needy and not be squandered?

Start with a visit to charitynavigator.org.

Charity Navigator evaluates the finances of 5,300 of the nation’s largest charities, rating each from zero to four stars. With a quick name search from the home page, you’ll see how much each organization spends on administration, programs and fundraising.

There’s an excellent selection of articles and lists, such as “6 Questions to Ask Charities Before Donating,” “10 Charities in Deep Financial Trouble” and “10 Slam-Dunk Charities.” Click on “studies” to see an analysis of charity executives’ salaries and to see why San Diego nonprofits rank first and those in Detroit rank last in a measure of financial practices.

By registering -- free -- you can do comparisons of charities and view as much as three years of historical data.

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-- Scott J. Wilson